AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Antique Gun Collecting => Topic started by: Ats5331 on March 23, 2024, 05:18:17 PM
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FYI there is an auction up on Proxibid that has some nice rifles. An Attributed Schroyer, signed Kaup, and an absolute bombshell signed Adam Ernst smooth rifle.
Given we all appreciate rifles, thought I would throw the link on here. Ernst is Lot #26. Attributed Schroyer is #34.
https://www.proxibid.com/LaMaster-Arms-LLC/LaMaster-Arms-March-2024-Auction/event-catalog/258761
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;) ;)... thanx... couple others than the ones you mentioned caught my attention... regards,... Cades Cove Fiddler.....
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;) ;)... thanx... couple others than the ones you mentioned caught my attention... regards,... Cades Cove Fiddler.....
I had only gotten so far in the catalog haha. Nice Pipe Tomahawks as well!
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This is Brian LaMaster's new web site and his move into marketing top notch early firearms and related materials. I've known Brian for years in the KRA, and he is honest and a good person to deal with and easy to talk to. My only question on this auction is how high the reserves are set. It looks like none have been reached, and I'm interested in seeing how close they are to full value of the items... which I realize is always subjective. I guess I'm cheap, but I always like to see an auction house's reserve, or minimum selling/opening price, so I know if I'm in the ballpark if/when interested in an item.
Shelby Gallien
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I can't figure out how much the auction fees are. I see 5% internet fee plus shipping which doesn't sound right.
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I can't figure out how much the auction fees are. I see 5% internet fee plus shipping which doesn't sound right.
Looking at Terms and Conditions, it looks like the 5% is just to cover the Proxibid charge.
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I have been looking at charges today as I would like to bid.
It seems to be:
hammer price
5% premium
Sales tax
Shipping and handling
Have I missed anything?
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Those Terms are good. 5% is unheard of nowadays. Most auctions online are around 20% nowadays. I saw the Realtors Association reduce their rates. I think the auction houses should follow suit. But I guess the truth is we don't have to bid. In West Virginia, we are not supposed to be charged tax on guns. That may only apply to auctions where they ship to WV. If we pick them up, we will pay that states tax.
https://www.wvnstv.com/news/local-news/guns-and-ammo-now-tax-free-in-west-virginia/
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The Proxibid charge isn't an auction house's buyer's fee, as with the large auction houses. It is the fee for using the internet to bid on an item, rather than using a phone bid, absentee bid, floor bid, etc. Just about all auction houses charge an internet fee, above their buyers fee [usually 3% for established auctions], if a bidder wants to use the internet. When you see a 20% fee on an internet auction, it usually includes both the internet fee plus the buyer's fee.
Shelby Gallien
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That is right. But this auction is not charging the auction house premium we usually see. 5% vs 20-25 percent looks better.
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Most everyone here knows or has seen posts from Mr. No Gold, and these are some of the items from his collection.
John
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Is Mr. No Gold arlight and just culling some of his collection? I am always glad to read his posts.
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okieboy, He's fine, just broadening horizons.
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Yes, I'm watching too. Spotted this one a few days ago.
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Disappointed 44 of 59 of the lots for sale did not hit the too high reserve. I'd never seen an auction where everything had a reserve, but thought I'd watch it, at least something would be able to be bought. Nothing was, unless you were willing to pay the very high prices.
This wasn't an auction, it was a regular for sale listing (post high for as long as it takes), under the auspices of an "you better hurry" auction type sale. Instead of letting the market determine the price, the house was trying to do so. And lost....almost nothing sold. I hope he learns auctions aren't a tool to just warehouse inventory for eventual sale....and I hope buyers realize these were evidently priced too high for market.
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The market is pretty grumpy on the high end contemporaries too (unless it’s signed H House). Guns that should bring $5000.00 and up are not commanding that amount.
Buyers are nervous about the economy and the future and those 2 factors have a big impact on the final price.
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Too close to the Knoxville show.
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And the prices were too high. Only 11 guns out of 59 items, many small ticket items. None of the 11 guns hit reserve, and even little things like a flat powder horn didn't hit reserve. Most knives didn't either.
I think I see what's going on. If you read his website, he's advertising doing "virtual gun shows". And like a gun show, if things are priced too high (a Reserve is basically a price), the seller takes them home. In this case, the auction just relists them.
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We should cut Brian a little slack on his first effort at an internet auction... and the fact he's selling items for a friend and feels pressure to get good prices. A lot of Dick's better pieces had already moved on... even I got one... so Brian was/is handling what is left... and those pieces simply don't generate the interest that the best pieces do.
I'd guess Brian will not have another auction like this, when it's not so much an auction but rather a full price sale that looked like an auction to attract more potential buyers. He can't afford to get a reputation for operating this way, and I doubt he intended it that way, just a first-time effort with over-kill on the reserves. Even his web site is very new and has taken up a lot of his time... a totally new venture for him with a learning curve.
From a marketing standpoint, it at least lets potential buyers know what inventory he has for sale, and perhaps there will be behind-the-scenes after-auction sales [more reasonably priced] as large auction houses often do on items that failed to meet reserve. But I'm sure this effort has been a good learning experience for Brian on what he should and should not do in future auctions, if he wants to build a clientele following for his auctions and his web site. There is simply too much work involved in photographing, writing descriptions, setting prices/reserves, posting, etc. in a good internet auction, to have it flop like this one did. I don't think we'll see another sale like this in the future.
Shelby Gallien
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I think there’s a fair bit of uncertainty on where prices of quality (but not stupendous) longrifles and accoutrements are going in the next 5-10 years - about the minimum time many guns stay in one collector’s hands. It may not be a bull market right now. I think that contributed to how it went. I don’t see any harm done.
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I'm curious as to just how many guys were watching the auction and ready to bid?
I didn't see any advertisement or other notifications regarding this auction, other than here, so am really curious as to just how many potential bidders there really were?
In the end, it was a bust, and didn't help No Gold one bit.
John
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My recollection is that you can see the number of people following a live auction on Proxibid. Many many collectors of all things search this site regularly so I don’t think lack of advertising was an issue. I left 3 incremental unchallenged bids on a rifle trying to find the reserve and no one bid against them. Could not get cell service during the live auction and there were no other bids. Wish I could have seen the bidding on the others. Hard to gage where the market is going, but I’m only buying what I like, don’t mind having forever and can get reasonably because my gut tells me anything other than good good ones are no longer going to hold their value. Most young people, the future collectors, have been taught a skewed version of American history or nearly none at all. Sad but true. Hope I can find the auction results to review. Happy Hunting
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I reworded some of my replies. If this was a trial or learning experience, the next one should go better.
You can find the results of anything that sold (prices), but the ones that didn't hit reserve their prices disappear and just "passed" shows. I only kept the prices of the things I was interested in, didn't track the rest.
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I actually applaud the initiative. It hopefully will not be his last. Maybe have had hiccups but trying something new is GOOD! IMO, setting an opening bid which is or very near the reserve would make some sense. An additional feature, which proxibid may not have the ability to do, is a "buy it now price" similar to ebay.
Another interesting bit of info would be to know the hits the auction had and that would give some sort of indication of the level of interest.
We all complain about the high fees but there is a lot of work that goes into the photos and description as was noted earlier. One sure cannot say the fees were excessive!
A tip of the hat to you Brian!
(https://i.ibb.co/xHLXrVf/download.png) (https://imgbb.com/)